England's Matt Kvesic is an out-and-out No7 in the mould of New Zealand's Richie McCaw and Australia's David Pocock. Photograph: David Davies/PA

England have found themselves at sixes and sevens in the back row in recent years, too many sixes and not enough out-and-out sevens. It was a legacy of how teams in the Premiership operated with the breakdown more a means of recycling the ball than a contest for possession, but that is changing.

A number of clubs are now operating with an openside flanker in the scavenging, linking mould of Richie McCaw and David Pocock and one of them, Matt Kvesic, who is leaving Worcester this summer to join Gloucester, has been promoted to England's starting lineup in Sunday's non-cap friendly against the Barbarians at Twickenham.

Chris Robshaw has played in 16 of the 17 England Tests under the head coach, Stuart Lancaster, but the national captain, who has been told to rest this summer, is regarded as more of a six than a seven, a ball-carrier and tackler rather than a winner of turnovers, and the one match he missed, the final Test in South Africa last year, saw another six, James Haskell, take his position.

Kvesic, although he started the season with Worcester playing at No8, is an openside more in the mould of Pocock than Robshaw, along with Will Fraser of Saracens, Luke Wallace of Harlequins, Jamie Gibson of London Irish, Wasps' Jonathan Poff – who is in the Barbarians' lineup – and Leicester's Australian, Julian Salvi.

"I think the style of rugby is changing and it is being played at a faster pace," says the 21-year old Kvesic. "I am joining Gloucester who have a really exciting back division and that suits a scavenging, linking seven. It is the position I would like to nail down, but it is not a bad thing to have transferable skills across the back row.

"Sunday is a massive opportunity for me but the back row is such a nightmare because there are so many players competing for the positions that you cannot look too far ahead. It is down to me to push for a place in the Test team in Australia and that means making sure my form is good."

It was only a year ago that the South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer declared that the era of the traditional openside flanker was over because the breakdown demanded big, physical players to win wrestling matches, but he quickly changed his mind after a couple of games against New Zealand and Australia saw the Springboks regularly turned over.

"The role depends on what the coach wants and who you are playing," says Kvesic. "If you have two big ball-carriers at six and eight, it leaves room for a smaller player at seven. I think England learned from the way Michael Hooper played against them for Australia last November because the following week McCaw, probably the best seven in the world, was non-existent."

Kvesic is one of a number of untried players in the England 23 looking to make an impact. Christian Wade, Marland Yarde, Billy Vunipola, Jonny May and Kyle Eastmond are uncapped players with the potential to be involved in the 2015 World Cup campaign and if the Barbarians generally treat the fixture against England as an end of season jolly, Sunday will be different.

"They will want to make an impact ahead of their game against the Lions and it will be a meaningful game," says Rob Webber, the Bath hooker who will captain England. "We will be up for it and it should be a good encounter."